I noticed the darkening sky when I was returning to my room and hurried along. I was certain I hadn’t spent more than an hour with the trio, and I tried to push aside the notion that neither the passage of time nor the weather seemed to obey rules in this place. The night either took its time or went in a flash and the clouds always appeared like set pieces. I realized this was more likely due to my faulty memory rather than the paranoid idea that everything in the Compound was controlled remotely. Paranoia. The men seemed to imply that it was I who had been brushed by its claws while ignoring their own heightened suspiciousness of my activities and my retentiveness. I wish they had been clearer about whatever they wished of me. Still, I should have been more tactful with them; perhaps the
